Walking doll



p 1969 TAKESHI NAKAMURA 3,465,473

WALKING DOLL Filed Nov. 22, 1966 INVENTOR. 7W5; A!

4 f, lid/Hr '7 United States Patent US. Cl. 46-150 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A walking doll wherein hollow legs of the doll are alternately raised and lowered while being swung about a pivot axis, while a pair of substantially parallel rods extending through each of the hollow legs are pivotally connected at the upper ends to the doll body and at the lower ends to a sole frame having a pair of branches extending spaced in direction of advance of the doll from each other through openings in the respective sole plate and turnably carrying rollers at the lower ends thereof, the front one of the rollers being permitted to turn only in direction of advance of the doll.

This invention relates to a walking doll.

A walking doll has been well known which intermittently takes alternate steps forward. Such a doll has a locomotive mechanism comprising both leg members which alernately act. In fact, the action of such a doll is not similar to that of the actual human body, but alternate and intermittent rolling motion of rollers provided under both feet is substituted for the true ad vancing motion of the actual human body. In this case such both leg members are fixedly connected with the trunk so that the apparent legs are merely advanced but not raised. Therefore, even if its waist and the upper parts of legs are hidden behind a garment, its walking motion is unnatural. Its foot is advanced but never raised while being advanced.

The object of this invention is to provide a walking doll, of which walking motion is apparently very natural.

Briefly stated in accordance with one aspect of this invention, there is a walking doll, of which walking motion comprises an actual advancing motion combined with an apparent advancing motion. The actual advancing motion is done by rollers provided under the feet, and the apparent advancing motion is done by apparent legs adapted to be synchronously raised with the actual advancing motion.

The invention will be better understood and other objects and additional advantages of the invention will become apparent upon perusal of the following description taken in connection'with the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly removed partly sectional front elevational view of an embodiment of this invention; and

FIG. 2 is a partly removed partly sectional left side elevational view thereof.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the preferred embodiment of this invention will now be described; however, this description will be understood to be illustrative of the invention and not as limiting it to the particular construction shown and described. The numerals having mark shown all parts of the right leg means and but some of the parts are hidden inside the hollow right leg and not shown in the drawings. There is a doll comprising a trunk 1 having a head and both arms jointed thereto in a well known manner and both legs 2 and 2 assembled thereto in a particular manner detailedly described hereinafter. These parts of the ap- "Ice parent human body are hollow and may be made of a plastic material such as polyvinyl chloride resin.

Said head may be caused to swing by transmission mechanism of gearing from a conventional prime mover 4, for example, a small electric motor or a clockwork in a well known conventional manner. Therefore, a patent is not claimed concerning a swingable head in the present invention.

There is a frame 3 inside the lower part of the hollow trunk 1, in which the prime mover 4 is provided. -A pair of levers 5 and 5' is secured to the vertical sides of the upper parts of the both legs 2 and 2 near to the both outer sides of the lower part of the hollow trunk 1, respectively. .A shaft 6 is laterally extended across and journalled by the upper part of the frame 3 and adapted to be rotated by the prime mover .4 by the medium of a gearing provided in the frame 3. The both ends of the shaft 6 i.e. two cranks 7 and 7' are cranked outside the trunk 1 and freely inserted into holes formed in the top parts of the levers 5 and 5, respectively. There is a supporting rod 9, which is laterally extended across the lower part of the frame 3 and trunk 1 into the both legs 2 and 2'. The both ends of the supporting rod 9 are freely inserted into vertical slots 8 and 8' formed in the lower parts of the levers 5 and 5', respectively. By means of the above mechanism, the tops of the levers 5 and 5' are revolved while the bottoms thereof are vertically reciprocated. The cranks 7 and 7' are on the opposite sides with each other so that the levers 5 and 5' are raised and lowered alternately. Since the levers 5 and 5 are secured to the upper parts of the legs 2 and 2, the levers 5 and 5' are raised and lowered alternatively together with the entire legs 2 and 2. At the same time, the top parts of the levers 5 and 5' are swung to and fro alternately, of which an axis is the supporting rod 9, so that the legs 2 and 2 are also made to swing to and fro alternately. It is to be noted that the shaft 6 must be rotated in clockwise direction in FIG. 2 for securing a natural apparent motion of the legs 2 and 2. By virtue of the rotation in such a direction, the top parts of the legs 2 and 2' are raised in the rear reciprocally so that two feet 11 and 11' which are extended integrally with the legs 2 and 2' respectively are raised while being advanced, reciprocal- 1y.

A pair of sole frames 12 is contained and horizontally arranged inside each of the apparent feet 11 and 11', respectively only the frames 12 are shown in the drawing. Each of the sole frames 12 has a front branch 13 and a rear branch 14, both branches being integral therewith. The branches 13 and 14 are secured at the right angle to each of the sole frames 12 and protruded out of each of the sole plate 25, 25 the feet 11 and 11' through holes 15 and 16 formed in said sole plates, respectively, so that the branches 13 and 14 may retire to and protrude from each of the sole plate 25, 25 reciprocally. Each of the sole frames 12 is linked with the frame 3 by means of two leg rods, i.e. a main leg rod 10 and 10 and a subsidiary leg rod 20. The upper end of each of the main leg rods 10 and 10' is pivotally mounted on the both ends of the supporting rod 9 and the lower end is pivoted on the sole frames 12, respectively. Each of the subsidiary leg rod 20 is also pivoted at the upper end thereof on the frame 3 and at the lower end thereof on the sole frames 12 respectively, so as to form opposite sides of a deformable parallelogram together with the main leg rods 10 and 10'. The supporting rod 9 and pins 21, whereby the upper end of the subsidiary leg rods 20 is mounted on the frame 3, are stationary with respect to the frame 3 and the trunk 1 regardless of the rotation of the shaft 6, so that the sole frames 12 driven only by the apparent feet 11 and 11'. When the levers 5 and 5' are reciprocally raised by the cranks 7 and 7' together with the apparent legs 2 and 2' respectively, the feet 11 and 11' are also reciprocally raised and advanced, so that each of the sole frames 12 is reciprocally and apparently lowered with respect to the apparent legs 2 and 2' and the feet 11 and 11, and at the same time the front branch 13 and the rear branch 14 of the sole frame 12 are protruded longer out of the sole plate 25, 25 because each of the sole frames 12 is not permitted to be raised together with each of the apparent legs 2 and 2, respectively. On supporting shafts 18 and 18' of the bottom ends of the front branches 13 and the rear branches 14 are provided rollers 17 and 17' respectively, by means whereof the doll is supported and advanced on a plane. The front rollers 17 and 17 for each of the legs 2 and 2 are provided with non-retrogression pawls 19, respectively.

In operation, the doll of which the prime mover 4 has been energized, is made to stand up on the rollers 17 and 17' on a floor. When it is released, it walks in a similar manner comprising alternate steps as an actual human. In fact, the doll is advanced by the reciprocal advancing motion of one of the two legs 2 and 2, that is, if the leg 2 advances, the rollers 17 of the foot 11 are rotated by frictional engagement with the floor while the other leg 2' is held against the retrogression by virtue of the provision of the non-retrogression pawl 19 and vice versa, respectively. It would be more pertinent that the advancing motion is deemed nothing but a relative striding motion of the two legs. Such an advancing motion of a walking doll itself is Well known. However, in accordance with this invention,- the advancing leg is apparently raised while being advanced so that the apparent motion is extraordinarily true to nature.

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, modifications thereof will readily occur to those skilled in the art. It should be understood therefore that the invention is not limited to the particular arrangement disclosed but that the appended claims are intended to cover all modifications which do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A walking doll comprising, in combination, a hollow doll body; a pair of hollow legs each having a foot at the lower end provided with a sole plate; a pair of levers respectively fixed to and extending along upper portions of said legs, each of said levers being provided in a lower portion thereof with a longitudinally extending slot; a crank shaft journaled in said body and having a pair of crank pins displaced through with respect to each other and respectively pivotally connected to upper ends of said levers; fixed pivot means extending through said slots; drive means in said hollow body for rotating said calm shaft so that said legs and foot portion will be alternately raised and lowered while being pivoted about said fixed pivot means; a sole frame in each foot and having a front and a rear branch extending through openings in the respective sole plate downwardly beyond the latter; a roller turnably carried by each of said branches; a pair of substantially parallel rods extending through each of said hollow legs spaced in direction of advance of the doll from each other and being pivotally connected at the upper ends of a pair of fixed pivot pins extending transversely through said body and at the lower ends to the sole frame of the respective leg; and ratchet means cooperating with the roller of each sole frame which is turnably carried by the front branch thereof to permit said roller to turn only in direction of advance of the doll.

2. A walking doll as defined in claim 4, wherein said pivot means coincides with that one of said pivot pins which is leading in direction of advance of said doll.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 754,861 3/1904 Fuchs 46150 2,641,864 6/1953 Villemejane 46150 XR 2,695,472 11/1954 Ardolino 46-l50 XR 3,038,275 6/1962 Curci 46-150 XR LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner H. DIN'ITZ, Assistant Examiner 

